School close-lipped on further discipline for fighting pupils

A secondary school is refusing to comment on whether it has taken any further disciplinary action since suspending three schoolgirls following an organised fight which was posted on the internet.

The school authorities in Cork say they just want to get on with dealing with the aftermath of the fight away from the glare of publicity.

Tens of thousands of people watched the video after it was posted on the internet this month.

The fight between two girls believed to be 12 or 13 took place in a public park in Douglas.

A spokeswoman for Christ King secondary school in Turner’s Cross said yesterday that while not negating the effects of the event, the school is concentrating on the vast majority of its students who were not involved in the fight and “were dealing appropriately with the fallout”.

Up to 50 pupils, some wearing their school uniforms, stood in a circle as they watched the fight between the girls, which was apparently over a boy at another school.

The fight started after an onlooker pushed one of the girls into the other.

During the fight, onlookers could be clearly heard baying for the two pupils to pull each others’ hair and punch each other.

The fight lasted nearly three minutes before it was broken up.

School principal Mary Keane issued a strong statement after the fight saying the staff viewed it as “appalling and unacceptable”.

She said that while staff could not control the actions of pupils outside of school hours, they would discipline anybody who had brought Christ King into disrepute.

Following an investigation, she suspended three pupils and gave another two weeks’ detention.